Readers of Harry Potter, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series are familiar with the term “boggarts.” You might also have met varieties of boggarts in other books and games.

Evil shape-shifters in the Potter books, brownies gone bad in the Spiderwick books, and dark shadows drawn to death and chaos in Odd Thomas, these creatures are never pleasant to encounter.

Half fairy and half elf, they are said to originate from Scotland, and are also called boogies, bogeys, hobgoblins, goblins, and many other various names.
Poltergeists are also thought to be a form of boggart.

Rumpelstiltskin is believed to come from the German word rumpelgeist, which is a type of goblin or boggart.

Boggarts are dirty and bad-tempered, and they live for the sole purpose of invading a home to wreck havoc and chaos.

Having an appetite for wood, a boggart can devour your home much like a team of termites.

English legends tell of fairy boggarts or bogarts who steal items, sour milk, and cause dogs to bark and become lame.

If you think your home is inhabited by spirits because you hear slamming doors, see the lights go on and off, discover your electrical cards in a tangled jumble, and find other unexplained messes in your home, you might actually be dealing with a boggart.

Sometimes boggarts will sleep in bed with you, causing all kinds of mischief while you are trying to get a little shuteye. They like to pull ears, poke you, pull your hair, touch your face, strip sheets off the bed, and whatever they can to disrupt your sleep.

Babies and children in a home invaded by a boggart must be watched very carefully. Boggarts are known to steal their food and try to smother them in their sleep.

Getting rid of a boggart can be very difficult. Hanging iron around the home, such as a horseshoe above the door, is said to help. Whatever you do, don’t give the creature a name. One it is named, you will never be free of the troublemaker.

Boggarts don’t like it when you make a lot of noise. You could try banging pots and pans, singing loudly, ringing your door bells, and other noisy activities.

Sometimes people have moved out of their homes to escape the boggart, only to discover that the boggart followed them to their new abode!

References:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/4611/fairyB.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggart
http://www.efairies.com/fairy_lore.htm
http://www.trueghosttales.com/elves-fairies/